Been taking the time over BH weekend to revisit Empire’s news releases, particularly from past year since Shaun Bunn was appointed as MD (announced 17/05/21 effective date 01/06/21).
Here is a summary of what I believe to be the key aspects of the “Empire” building and I have added some artistic license to join some dots that were likely playing out in the background:-
- The sale of the Georgian asset was in final stages when SB arrived and I believe he would have only joined Empire in the knowledge this disposal was a done deal and therefore they would be well funded for pursuing a long runway of exploration progress in Australia without needing further dilution (note that the most recent mention of financial status is in the 8th Feb 2022 RNS stating a healthy £2.1 million cash was available).
- Before joining SB would have looked at the eclipse data and liked what he saw but also recognised that more work was needed and that the existing footprint area was too limited. It’s likely he proposed and got the buy-in from the BOD that Empire needed enhancement of experienced exploration resources and needed to go after securing surrounding land to Eclipse to achieve a viable footprint.
- Central Menzies deal was being finalised when SB joined and I envisage he supported the principle of expanding Empire assets in Australia, but wanted the option of being able to walk away from CM if initial exploration results were not successful to mitigate against significant expenditure. At the time of SB appointment I believe he already would of had other Australian assets potentially lined up in readiness, particularly if CM failed to progress.
- The enhancement of exploration resources came quickly as announced on 07/09/21. The most noteworthy with hindsight from recent news of the three copper/gold assets is the recruitment of Ed Baltis. It’s important to revisit his appointment RNS and note that at that time there is no mention of his ongoing involvement with Century Minerals Pty Ltd. However I believe that in the background with SB / BOD this was a key factor in his recruitment and the deal making for the three new copper/gold assets with Century Minerals was already underway. It’s also likely noteworthy that the BOD bought shares on the open market on 31/08/21 just 1 week before EB joined Empire.
- The tribute agreement for Gindalbie that extends the Eclipse area footprint was first announced on 26/01/22 and came hand in hand with the closing of Central Menzies on 28/01/22. The Gindalbie initial option has an aggressive 6 month window and so SB and team took somewhat of a flyer to do some RC drilling early on considering they had the rig/crew mobilised already at Eclipse. This decision paid off handsomely with the bonanza grade results announced on 30/03/22. Bearing in mind the 6 month window I believe they will very quickly progress their next steps with this asset and I foresee them doing some diamond drilling as soon as DD rig/crew…….
Right place (see link)…..Right time….(strongly rising gold/copper prices + Australian exploration weather season + well funded for drilling etc from the recent Georgia asset sell-off (with hindsight that was a very well timed exit from Eastern Europe to avoid impact of the bad geopolitics now in play in that region))
https://www.mining.com/western-australia-is-worlds-new-top-mining-destination/
ZIKA VIRUS DiAGNOSTICS
One such potential wildcard…..This could be quickly fine tuned and mobilised by Avacta as an LFT based on their previously established developments in this field done back at the time of the major Zika outbreak in 2016.
https://www.lse.co.uk/rns/AVCT/affimer-binders-for-zika-virus-diagnostics-3pmcxskp5wk1yd1.html
This BBC news article dated yesterday is interestingly timed as they typically publish about subjects that are relevant for todays world or the near future (I.e. no smoke without fire).
Zika virus may be one step away from explosive outbreak https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-61078867
Worth keeping an eye on this story……
With CLON ordinary shares having a face value of 0.25p then any placing has to be done at no less than this value (which is the price they are hovering around at the moment) or else they would have to go through process of changing the ordinary shares face value which I believe needs shareholders meeting/vote. Expect the BOD would much prefer to avoid that hassle……
Came across this article……seems there is quite a lot going on with the use of Aptamers:-
https://ceo.ca/@nasdaq/aptamers-therapeutics-technologies-and-services-market
Anyone good here with the trading charts…..Did this gap get closed ok during today ?
PDl closes up 3.1% today and so as usual Carats your latest message hasn’t aged well and leaves you looking rather foolish and bitter………wasn’t it way back in the low 80s when you sold out here, so not sure why you say “….let’s see exactly how WE are doing…..”.
I recommend its best for your mental health to let it go and move on, but there again many holders on this board are a little superstitious and see your ongoing presence here as like a lucky charm for ensuring PDLs ongoing positive SP performance….So by all means carry on being a glutton for punishment and let us watch you continue to dig bigger holes for yourself here in the coming weeks/months…..have a great weekend.
Further to my first message. Note that NFT is not pursing the deal for Pluto. Personally I am not disappointed as I felt the proposed deal undervalued them. Also I prefer for Pluto not to be involved with the Aquis exchange where lack of liquidity is a common problem (e.g. a good Company in same sector, KR1 suffers).
https://polaris.brighterir.com/public/nft_investments/news/rns/story/r75qn1w
I am not disappointed by this news as I felt the NFT proposal was undervaluing Pluto.
Furthermore I prefer for Pluto to avoid the Aquis exchange where lack of liquidity is a common problem (e.g. a good similar Company like KR1 suffers).
https://polaris.brighterir.com/public/nft_investments/news/rns/story/r75qn1w
Agreed Lotto, I also felt the financials of the proposed deal with NFT were undervaluing Pluto. We shall await news from Pluto on their alternative path forward plans.
This news released this morning:-
https://www.lse.co.uk/rns/aquis-stock-exchange-restoration-to-trading-0r440vm8br4p37n.html
Could mean further news on Pluto path forward is imminent…..
This news released this morning:-
https://www.lse.co.uk/rns/aquis-stock-exchange-restoration-to-trading-0r440vm8br4p37n.html
Could mean further news on Pluto path forward is imminent…..
News this morning:-
https://www.lse.co.uk/rns/aquis-stock-exchange-restoration-to-trading-0r440vm8br4p37n.html
Could mean further news on Pluto path forward is imminent….
For the second day running the trading volume over in Canada is high. Currently around 0.5 million shares traded (SP up 3.6%) with 2 hours remaining. Normal volume over there is sub 50,000/Day. Someone over there building a good size position at the current low SP ahead of next drill results news I wonder…..
Whilst it’s wise not to read to much into results from only 1 quarter, its encouraging to note that copper production at 3024 Tonnes is 5% higher than was achieved (2880 Tonnes) in Q1 2021 and ultimately the 2021 copper production achieved was 14041 Tonnes (4% above the high end (13500 Tonnes) of guidance. So reasonable to expect Copper production in 2022 to be nicely up somewhere in the 14000s again.
Looks to be a serious 10K block buyer here today. Similar high volume buying has also been happening over on FLX. Looks to me to be a few “smart” (pardon the pun) investors taking note of the huge SP rise over on OSI in the past few days and now getting in ahead of the herd to take up early positions in other undervalued small caps that have similar IT / Digital / cyber security industry exposure. RGO with their involvements in Smarttech247, Pluto, low6 whilst currently trading at substantially below their May 2021 placing price (1.7p in which the well known technology investor Chris Akers participated) seems to fit the bill perfectly.
Just to wet the appetite of what RGO are involved in here, below is the key highlights summary found on the website of their recent conference event held in Dublin. Lots of big industry (Microsoft etc) players attended.
https://www.smarttech247.com/news/key-highlights-from-zero-day-con-2022/
Just noticed that one of these Century guys (Ed Baltis) has already been on Empire’s team as a consultant since Sept 2021….So it looks like todays news announcement has been many months in the planning. Empire now has a basket full of nice eggs to develop that are all within the safe jurisdiction of Australia. What’s not to like.
https://www.lse.co.uk/rns/EEE/appointment-of-key-personnel-to-exploration-team-tgacg8jedwu8m1a.html
Showing up today…..wonder if Mr. Packwood is taking some more after the recent positive RNS.
BOD has quickly (as soon as insider rules allowed) closed out their £35,000 shares purchase as they committed to do in the previous funding announcement RNS. They have not hung around waiting for a price dip which likely means that they don’t expect one to happen as further news to increase the SP is imminent……simply join the dots here.
Interesting…..Musk and Dorsey already had plenty in common, both being somewhat anti-establishment and advocates for crypto currency.
Elon Musk snaps up $3bn Twitter stake https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-60979656